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The emergence of spirituality in contemporary culture in holistic forms suggests that organised religions have failed. This thesis is explored and disputed in this book in ways that mark important critical divisions. This is the first collection of essays to assess the significance of spirituality in the sociology of religion. The authors explore the relationship of spirituality to the visual, individualism, gender, identity politics, education and cultural capital. The relationship between secularisation and spirituality is examined and consideration is given to the significance of Simmel in relation to a sociology of spirituality. Problems of defining spirituality are debated with reference to its expression in the UK, the USA, France and Holland. This timely, original and well structured volume provides undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers with a scholarly appraisal of a phenomenon that can only increase in sociological significance.
Despite the masses still lining up to enter mega-churches with warehouse-like architecture, casually dressed clergy, and pop Christian music, the “Post-Boomer” generation—those ranging in age from twenty to forty—is having second thoughts. In this perceptive look at the evolving face of Christianity in contemporary culture, sociologists Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller argue that we are on the verge of another potential revolution in how Christians worship and associate with one another. Just as the formative experiences of Baby Boomers were colored by such things as the war in Vietnam, the 1960s, and a dramatic increase in their opportunities for individual expression, so Post-Boo...
For Generation Y, born after 1982, relationships happen over the Internet and music marks their territory. How does this generation think about the world? What does their spirituality look like? And what implications does this have for the Church? This book addresses the need for the Church to reconnect and communicate with young people.
For Generation Y, born after 1982, relationships happen over the Internet and music marks their territory. How does this generation think about the world? What does their spirituality look like? And what implications does this have for the Church? This book addresses the need for the Church to reconnect and communicate with young people.
What is the state of Christianity today, and what might it look like in the future? In the West, the story for a long time has revolved around decline and the loss of monopoly status, but how are these shifts changing the practice of Christianity or individual belief? Similarly, the rapid growth of Christianities in the Global South has been well reported, but the continuing complex intersections of mission Christianity with indigenous religions are less well known. Large-scale flows of people across increasingly fluid borders mean that not only does immigration sometimes significantly boost Christian numbers in a given country, but that different forms of Christianity shift traditional reli...
In 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell outed Tinky-Winky, the purple character from TV's Teletubbies. Events such as this reinforced in many quarters the common idea that evangelicals are reactionary, out of touch, and just plain paranoid. But reducing evangelicals to such caricatures does not help us understand their true spiritual and political agendas and the means they use to advance them. Shaking the World for Jesus moves beyond sensationalism to consider how the evangelical movement has effectively targeted Americans—as both converts and consumers—since the 1970s. Thousands of products promoting the Christian faith are sold to millions of consumers each year through the Web, mail orde...
In his farewell address, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation of the perils of the military-industrial complex. But as Jonathan Herzog shows in this insightful history, Eisenhower had spent his presidency contributing to another, lesser known, Cold War collaboration: the spiritual-industrial complex. This fascinating volume shows that American leaders in the early Cold War years considered the conflict to be profoundly religious; they saw Communism not only as godless but also as a sinister form of religion. Fighting faith with faith, they deliberately used religious beliefs and institutions as part of the plan to defeat the Soviet enemy. Herzog offers an illuminating account of the result...
Providing a comprehensive overview of the most significant form of collective religious expression in American society--local congregations--this book reveals that, despite the media focus on the political and social activities of religious groups, the arts are actually far more central to the workings of congregations.
Mosaic in southern California is one of the largest and most innovative multiethnic congregations in America. Gerardo Marti shows us how this unusual church has achieved multiethnicity, not by targeting specific groups, but by providing multiple havens of inclusion that play down ethnic differences. He reveals a congregation aiming to reconstruct evangelical theology, personal identity, member involvement, and church governance to create an institution with greater relevance to the social reality of a new generation.
Two phenomena profoundly changed the shape of Christendom in the twentieth century: the rise of secularism in Europe, and the rise of Pentecostalism elsewhere. This book investigates the impact of an emerging secular culture on the early Pentecostal movement, using previously unpublished data to build its case study on Denmark. The first Pentecostals were idealists who sought to influence the existing churches from within, but eventually this approach gave way to the more successful strategy of forming separate Pentecostal churches. The insights found herein apply to all religious minorities who seek to adapt to an inhospitable context.